The demon, the Idiot and Me
by Zerodone
Summary: So, here I am, working for Yubel in order to destroy the world and manipulate her boyfriend. Not in that particular order mind you.
1. Chapter 1

Dr. Vellian Crowler strode with pride through the empty halls of Duel Academy. Even though it was currently summer vacation, the man was still careful about the aura he emitted. Because he knew if he would slack off now, it would transfer over to when the new school year started. And if that happened, then the students wouldn't be afraid of him anymore. Something that must not happen under any circumstances!

That topic aside, there was a reason the good doctor was making his way through the prestigious school. You see normally at this time of the year, he would be busy with not only preparing classes but also for the upcoming application tests at the end of summer vacation. Sadly he needed to rearrange his schedule a little bit because the Chancellor wanted to speak with Crowler about something regarding a potential new student.

Now Crowler already had a pretty good idea about who this potential student was since she had frequented these very halls for the past month already. He shouldn't really be surprised that the Chancellor would give her a chance to be a student at this very academy, after all, she had proven to be a rather good duelist. There were just certain circumstances regarding this potential student that made her case rather exceptional, to say the least.

Crowler reached the door to the Chancellor's office without any interruptions. Most staff members used the summer time for their own vacations or simply prepared their lessons at home, away from the island. The doctor knocked at the door politely three times and almost immediately heard a response coming from the other side.

"Yes, come in Crowler."

The sliding door opened on its own, allowing Crowler to step into the office. Said office was really spacious with a marble red polished ground, a few plants here and there and a large window behind the chancellor's desk, which allowed him to have a full view over the academy. Chancellor Shepherd sat behind said desk with his usual good-hearted smile plastered across his face. Although Crowler did not always agree with the chancellor and definitely didn't share his kind-hearted nature, the blonde still respected the man wearing the purple uniform.

"You wanted to see me, Chancellor Sheppard?" asked Crowler, walking right in front of his boss' desk.

"Yes, thank you for coming." Sheppard nodded. "I'm sorry for taking you away from work, but as I mentioned in the e-mail, there's something I wanted to discuss with you. Please, have a seat."

Doctor Crowler nodded and placed himself on the chair, which had been offered to him. "You said it was about a potential student, chancellor. Although I think I can already guess who you were referring to," he spoke, sounding none-to-pleased.

"Haha, as sharp as ever, I see," Sheppard laughed good heartily. "Yes, I am referring to our newest addition here at Duel Academy. I have been thinking a lot about it these past few weeks and have come to the conclusion we should at least let her take the entrance exam. I mean, what could it hurt?"

Crowler suppressed a sigh and instead spoke directly to his superior. "Sir, with all due respect, I do not think this is a good idea. Even after two months we barely know anything about her, let alone how she even got on this island! We have asked the police, the orphanages and you even went so far as calling Seto Kaiba himself! We should count our lucky stars that our school's budget didn't get cut after you asked him to look up for some random girl that just appeared on our school grounds!"

It was the chancellor's turn to suppress a sigh. Of course, he fully understood his second in commands concerns, yet he had hoped that the duel potential that the potential student showed would sway Crowler to give the girl some leeway.

"I know that there are certain issues…"

"More than just issues, sir." Crowler interrupted Sheppard rather rudely and getting slightly aggressive. "Excuse me for my behavior, but we're treading on thin ice here. We have yet to inform the authorities about her, something we technically should have done from day one."

"And who do we call, Crowler?" asked Sheppard in return. "Duel Academy may belong to Kaiba corporation, a Japanese gaming company, but at the same time this very island isn't claimed by any country."

"It's not?!" exclaimed Crowler surprised. "Surely you're pulling my leg here."

"I'm afraid it's true." Sheppard gestured towards his personal computer. "While I have been looking for any clues about our mysterious girl, I at the same time tried to find a place for her stay. The problem there as I found out is that this island is officially not claimed by any country, no even a small one. Aside from the other glaring issues this presents, it also means that I cannot hand over the girl to the Japanese Government, who would then put her in foster care most likely. But as things stand, if we're really technical, she is an inhabitant, in fact, the only inhabitant on this island."

"Nonsense!" Crowler slammed his hands on the desk. "Surely there must be something you overlooked. The most likely scenario is that this island belongs to the Kaiba Corporation. It wouldn't be beyond Seto Kaiba to buy an island and build this magnificent facility on it. Ergo, we just give her over to the Japanese. There. Problem solved."

But the Sheppard shook his head. "I'm afraid it's not that easy Crowler."

"Huh? Why not?" the man asked, sitting back in his chair.

"Because even if this island belongs to Kaiba corporation it wouldn't automatically make it Japanese soil. Trust me, I have looked into the matter thoroughly, once it came up. Seto Kaiba was even so generous to assign one of his lawyers on the case to help me out. But so far, we haven't come up with any solution."

Crowler needed a moment to take all the information in. If this girl hadn't been a headache before, she certainly was now. With his arm, he rubbed a bit of sweat from his forehead and started thinking. Sadly, his PhD did not cover anything about law, especially international law.

"Well what do we do then?" asked Crowler. "She can't just stay here forever. She has to have a home somewhere. I mean she most likely arrived on this island via boat and then hid here for who knows how long, until we found her. She could be a runaway child for all we know with a family looking for her somewhere."

"That is true." Sheppard acknowledge. "Which is why I propose the following. Let her take the test, written and practical exam for Duel Academy. If she passes, we keep her for the duration of the time here, until she graduates. I already spoke with the lawyer and he agrees that this might be the best temporary solution until we find out more. All I need now is the "okay" from Seto Kaiba and we could start."

"Hmm…" Crowler thought about this for a moment. He had already half a mind set on disagreeing with this, but he also knew that the Sheppard was too kind of a man to just throw the girl out and into the bureaucratic mess that was registering an unidentified person somewhere. He briefly thought about faking some papers, in order to get rid of her, but that would be too risky. And now that he seriously thought about it, even if they managed to get the girl to be accepted as a legal citizen of any country, it would mean tons and tons of paperwork for him. He would rather let the lawyer deal with that.

This time, Crowler couldn't suppress the sigh escaping his mouth. "I don't like this chancellor. There are just too many "what ifs" involved for my taste. But, I have to admit, I cannot come up with a better solution at the moment."

Sheppard nodded seriously. "I understand, Crowler. Truly, I wish we could help the girl out more, but… well, she can't exactly help us."

"Ah, yes. You mean the fact that she is suffering from amnesia?" Crowler asked, just for clarity's sake. Upon receiving a nod from his boss, Crowler continued. "With all due respect chancellor, but even you have to admit that this is a sketchy story, all things considered. I mean isn't that just too convenient?"

"Of course it is," Sheppard replied immediately. "But think back Crowler, remember how we found her: confused, scared, disoriented and dehydrated."

"Your point being?" Crowler asked, sounding slightly annoyed.

"That we have to win her trust." The chancellor leaned forward. "As I see it, the girl is just as wary of us, as we're of her. By actively including her in our everyday school life, I believe she will eventually warm up to us and tell her story."

It took everything out of Dr. Crowler not to facepalm. "Chancellor, I sometimes wonder where you get your goodwill from. Fine, you're the boss. I will arrange everything immediately."

"Thank you, Crowler." Sheppard nodded. "I will personally inform our guest about this new development," he said and already pressed a button on his desk to call another teacher. Dr. Crowler in the meantime grumbled about Sheppard, the girl and the fact that he would have twenty minutes more of paperwork to do.

"What's so special about her anyway?" Dr. Crowler wondered aloud. "Sure she is a good duelist and has some interesting cards, but here at Duel Academy, we're teaching the elite of the elite. Hah, I bet she doesn't even make it to Slifer Red."

XXX

Back in the chancellor's office, Sheppard was just about to finish his call to Professor Banner. "Send her over immediately, will you?"

"Of course, chancellor," came it from the PDA Sheppard was holding. "I'll tell her as soon as she returns from the bathroom. Anything else I can help you with?"

"No, that will be all for now. I presume you're still busy preparing your classes for this year?"

"Don't worry, chancellor. I am way ahead of my schedule."

The call ended with that and Sheppard closed his PDA as a result. Having everything prepared, he turned his attention to the screen of his computer, where a certain picture of a card was shown. This card was rather special, as it had zero attack and zero defense points and ten stars! Sheppard's own deck didn't contain a card that was level ten! Plus, there was this really nasty special ability that card had, having taken off guard more than just a couple of students at the time the owner of this card had been a part of this school.

And here was another thing: the owner of this card. At first, Sheppard thought the girl either had been lucky with a booster or someone bought that card for her or maybe even she inherited it from a family member. That all changed, when Sheppard received a phone call from the parents of a certain applicant, who would take his entrance exam in a couple of weeks. The information he received had been highly unnerving and, to an extent, controversial. Okay, to a heavy extent, controversial. That is why Chancellor Sheppard wanted to clear things up and the first step was to get her into his school properly. And even without all of this going on, he would still give her a spot, just without contacting Seto Kaiba. But under the given circumstances, it was best to involve someone who had plenty of experience with Duel Monsters.

"Yubel" Sheppard mumbled to himself "I don't know if you're just another card or if you're the card. But I suppose, we will find out in time, won't we?"

Twenty minutes passed and in that time Sheppard did some paperwork that needed to be done anyways. He only stopped, when he heard a knock coming from the door leading into his room. He stopped reading the file in his hands and put it away into one of his drawers.

"Come in!" he shouted while closing said drawer. A second later the door opened, revealing a girl standing on the other side. The girl was about average height for a girl in her teenage years. She had a light brown skin, which probably came from her spending so much time at the beach. Well, Sheppard couldn't blame her. If he had the time, he would go out and lay in the sun every day as well.

Her hair was short and in purple and she wore a golden chain around her head with a blue crystal hanging in the middle, in front of her forehead. Her eyes were a beautiful turquoise color and as an additional accessory, she wore a golden ring around her neck.

Her clothes looked somewhat primitive, for the lack of better term. She wore a purple shirt that had been stitched by hand and hung a little loosely around her body. She also wore two long, black armbands. Her black trousers were about as short as the ones included in the female school uniforms and black and her shoes shared the same color. Speaking of the shoes, if the clothes didn't look old enough on their own, the shoes definitely were. Even from so far away Sheppard could see that they were thinner than his winter socks. He was honestly surprised the girl in front of him wasn't in need of a new pair already.

"Ah, Jen, please come in." Sheppard gestured towards a chair in front of his desk. The girl in question nodded and walked into the room, the door closing behind her. She quietly made her way over to the chair and placed herself upon it.

"Thank you for coming on such a short notice, Jen. I know it must have been coming out of nowhere."

Jen shrugged, not seeming to mind.

"For you see Jen, I find myself in a little bit of a predicament regarding your case. Now, don't get me wrong, none of this is your fault." Sheppard made a peaceful gesture with his hands. "However at the same time, we cannot let someone stay here for free for an extended period of time. Usually, we would have long shipped you home, but given your amnesia, this has proven to be difficult."

Jen had the dignity to look apologetic.

"But as long as we don't know where you even came from, we can't just toss you into the ocean. Unless of course, you're a disguised mermaid." The chancellor laughed at his own joke. Jen for her part produced a notepad and a roller pen, quickly writing something on the paper. When she was done, she showed what she had written to the chancellor. It read: "If I was a mermaid, I would be a siren, luring your ferries into the nearby cliffs. Then all your booster packs would be mine."

The chancellor couldn't help but snort at the mental image he was getting. "Oh dear. I guess we'll have to issue earplugs to our captains very soon. But all joking aside, you see the problem we're having. Unless you remember anytime soon anything about your past, we both will be in trouble. Luckily, I believe I have found a solution for this."

Jen raised an eyebrow and motioned for the chancellor to go on.

"You see, while we cannot let you stay here as a freeloader, we can let you stay here as a student."

Jen put a hand under her chin, but else didn't give any indication to her emotions. "As a student, not only would you be partaking in normal student life, but the issue of you staying here would be solved, at least for the time. And by the time you're done here, you will be to use the knowledge you gained here for your future career. Who knows, maybe you'll design the cards of tomorrow. Or you could become a professional duelist. There are many options available to you afterward."

Jen lowered her eyes, seemingly thinking deeply about the subject. She idly spun the roller pen in her hand and occasionally tapped with it on her notepad. After a while, she wrote a single line on a piece of paper: "Would it really be okay for me to become a student?"

"Of course it would," Sheppard nodded smiling. "The teachers have seen you duel against our students. You're good, Jen. Very good, indeed. I would go so far as to say you have a natural talent for dueling. And here at the academy, we will be able to help you nurture that talent."

Jen looked down at her notepad, contemplating as to how she should answer that. Sheppard waited patiently for the girl in front of him to make up her mind, which took about five minutes until she finally wrote an answer.

"Let's say I agree, wouldn't there be a problem with me dueling? The only way I dueled so far was by hand or using those PD-thingies."

"The PDAs you mean." Sheppard corrected, holding up his own device. "And I presume you mean, you not being able to use a duel disc because you obviously can't use the voice recognition system in order to tell your monsters to attack. Don't worry, I think I have already found a solution to this problem, but that isn't the issue for now."

After the chancellor was finished, Jen had already written her next question.

"So I'd be in the academy? Just like that?"

"Well, not just like that," Sheppard conceded. "You would have to go through a written and a practical exam, like any other applicant. You would take both tests here and if you pass, you're in. And if not... let's cross that bridge, when we get there. But I'm confident you'll pass both tests without a problem. So what do you say?"

An easy question.

"I don't say anything. I'm a mute, remember?"

XXX

That evening, Jen found herself sitting in the academy's cafeteria alone at a table. Sadie and Ms. Dorothy had been so nice to prepare a small meal for her. Speaking of those two, they were currently busy in the kitchen, preparing their own meals, chatting among themselves about this and that. Since there were practically no students around, they were finally able to use the kitchen to cook something special for themselves and they were fully using (abusing) their temporary freedom. As in, they were at their final stage of preparing a five-course menu for themselves.

Jen for her part had barely touched her food, as she was currently inspecting her deck with a box full of cards being placed next to her dinner plate. She stopped at a particular card called: Savage Colosseum. It basically forced the players to attack with their monsters, because every monster that didn't fight would be destroyed at the End Phase. On the upside, for each monster that attacked, the controlling player received 300 life points.

Jen was contemplating whether to leave the card inside or take it out. It was the second Savage Colosseum card in her deck, one she put in, in case her field spell got destroyed by her opponent playing another field spell. But one thing she had noticed was that barely anyone bothered using field spells for some reason and those who did, usually got their asses handed to them by her anyways.

She was brought out of her musings when Jen noticed something dark from the corner of her eye. Looking to the side, she saw the transparent form of a monster spirit. But not any monster spirit, but a particularly ugly one. She or he, that was still up to debate, had half the upper body being male, the other female, a third eye, two different eye colors, two hair colors, a bad case of bed hair on a side note, demonic wings and overall looked like a demon. It was none other than Yubel, the crazy demon bitch, who suffered from a bad case of cray-crayz and was literally madly in love with Jaden. And for some reason, she used turquoise lipstick.

"What do you want?" Jen asked, using sign-language.

"What I want to know is why you told the chancellor that you need to "think about your decision"?" Yubel asked, sounding none too happy.

"I needed to come over convincingly." Jen signed back. "No need to make me look more suspicious than I already am. There's no need to worry. I am practically part of the student body already."

"Make sure it stays that way or else you might find yourself buried alive," Yubel threatened, before disappearing seemingly into thin air.

("Well, that was a short talk.") Jen thought to herself, refocusing on her deck. She wasn't too worried about Yubel's latest threat. The duel spirit found a reason every day to threaten the girl, so as a result it kind of lost its effectiveness relatively quickly. Besides, Yubel knew that there was no one better around to help her with her plans, than Jen. As long as Jen was useful to the duel spirit, there was no reason for the girl to worry about her life just yet.

Jen once again came to a sudden stop in looking through her cards, when she noticed that a Synchro Monster had somehow sneaked itself into her deck. Wondering just how the thing got there, she took the card out and put it into the box with all of the other cards. After this, she started anew looking through her decks, this time specifically looking for monsters that didn't belong there, read: XYZ-Summons, Synchro Summons, Pendulum Summons or even Link Summons. And as it turned out, she somehow managed to get some cards for her extra deck mixed up. Luckily this didn't happen during a duel. That would have been awkward.

While she was busy sorting out her cards, Dr. Crowler was making his way into the cafeteria, being told that he could find the mute girl here. He spotted her, just as she was stuffing some cards into the box. He wasn't really interested in the cards, having seen her deck a couple of times already. He had business to do with her.

Quickly making his way through the rows of tables and chairs, the girl could hear him approaching long before he even arrived. She looked up and raised an eyebrow upon seeing the head of the Obelisk Blue Male dorm approaching her.

"There you're Jen," the teacher spoke up. "Chancellor Sheppard just told me that he was given the okay to accept you as a student. I am here to ask you if you accept his proposal of becoming a student at our prestigious academy."

Jen fully turned her body on the chair around, in order to fully face the professor and then gave him a nod.

"I see. Well, at least my work wasn't for nothing." Crowler cleared his throat. "Well then, I hope you're ready for the test then. I will personally test you and your dueling skills in two weeks after you have taken the written exam. I suggest you use this time to study at our library. And" Crowler stepped closer, his face hardening "do not take this lightly. Getting a position at this academy means you're one of the elite. I will not allow some lazy freeloader to attend classes, as long as I am a teacher at this institution. Understood?"

Jen wasn't intimidated at all by the man's demeanor. If anything his voice started to sound like it belonged to a woman, the further he went on with his thread. Nevertheless, she gave the doctor a nod, which seemed to satisfy him.

"Good. Remember, two weeks. I would start hitting those books if I were you." Having said his piece, Dr. Crowler turned around and walked away. "Unbelievable," he grumbled aloud "that I, Dr. Crowler, have to waste my precious time with some freeloader. I didn't get a PhD in dueling for this."

Jen facepalmed at the last sentence. ("He got a doctor title for a stupid card game? And I am here trying to destroy this world with said stupid card game. Why did I agree to this again?")


	2. Chapter 2

Dr. Crowler's expectations may have been low, to begin with, but the freeloader applicant indeed managed to surpass them. With a stack of test papers in his hands, he was sitting in the teacher's lounge with chancellor Sheppard and reported the results.

"She did better than I thought she would, but she still has a far way to go. I'll start with the bad. She completely failed dueling history. Aside from the most recent tournaments, the only thing she does know is that Duel Monsters originated from Egypt. She didn't even attempt to fill out most of the section."

Chancellor Sheppard frowned but motioned Crowler to go on. "When it comes to recent dueling history, well, she seems to have informed herself exceptionally well about the tournaments in Duelist Kingdom and Battle City, but has as good as no knowledge about the current professional league."

"Really?" Sheppard asked with a raised eyebrow. "I always thought those were some of the simpler questions to answer."

Dr. Crowler nodded. "Yes, I fully agree. However, where she did exceptionally well was when it came to the actual cards. Different card-types, effect monsters, chaining rules, she sometimes wrote the card texts themselves down word for word. If I hadn't looked over her shoulder, I would say she cheated during the examination."

"Word for word? That does indicate her having an exceptional well memory," he noted.

"And stands in complete contrast with her amnesia story," Crowler pointed out. "I know I sound like a broken record by now, but are we really going to continue this charade?"

Sheppard smiled goodheartedly. "Don't worry, Crowler. She'll open up to us soon enough. I have experience with those kinds of things."

"If you say so…" Crowler's voice was full of doubt. He glanced down at the papers for a second, before addressing his boss once again. "Well, all in all, she managed to get roughly 60% of the answers correct. As much as I hate to admit it, this girl has potential, and under normal circumstances I would have let her join the academy. Ultimately, the choice is yours."

Sheppard leaned back in his chair. "Well, 60% isn't necessarily good, but at least we won't have to start from scratch with her. From what I have seen of her duels, I would personally say she's on a solid Ra-Yellow level. Of course, since we only have one girl's dorm, she's ultimately going to be an Obelisk Blue student."

"If she passes the next test," Dr. Crowler reminded the chancellor. "During her duels, she heavily relies on her ace card in combination with her Savage Colosseum card. I plan to see if she has any contingency plans in place, in case someone counters her strategy."

"Of course, that is understandable." The chancellor rose from his chair. "If you don't mind, I'd like to oversee the Duel myself. Sadly, the special duel disk has yet to arrive, so you'll be forced to play with her the old-fashioned way."

If this had been an anime, a tick mark would have appeared on Crowler's forehead. "Of course," he huffed.

"Now, now, calm down Crowler. You can hardly blame Jen for being a mute girl. It is something the girl is suffering more than any of us."

XXX

Jen in the meantime was patiently waiting in the mess hall for any information to arrive in regards to how she did in the test. On a personal level, she would say that the test had been harder than she had initially thought. There had been just a lot of questions she didn't anticipate, like for example who was on top of the pro-league some odd five years ago or something, along with some surprisingly sophisticated scenarios you had to play out in your head. Basically, it was like this: you and your opponent had a set amount of life points, certain cards were on the field, and you had certain cards in your hand. Basically, you needed to offer a win scenario in one turn, most of the time. Sometimes they even asked how your opponent could possibly counter your strategy. In those cases, your opponent held a set amount of cards. Given the sheer endless possibilities, along with not being sure which cards had already been released during the GX anime, it had been challenging.

Luckily, for now, Jen was able to distract herself with a soup that Miss Dorothy prepared for her earlier. It was a veggie soup that somehow tasted so good, it could have been straight out of a four-star cuisine.

Yubel was standing or rather floating in the top right corner of Jen's vision. The demonic Duel Monster had her arms crossed and was looking impatiently at the door that leads into the hallways. Occasionally she would look down at Jen with a mixture of envy and disgust, before returning her attention to the door. This had been going on for the past twenty minutes, even before the human girl had started eating and it was slowly but surely getting on said girl's nerves. She looked up to the duel spirit, her food temporarily forgotten. By snapping her fingers, she managed to get the spirit's attention and started making some angry gestures.

"Can you calm down already? It's barely been an hour!"

Yubel in return huffed. "It shouldn't take them this long to mark a single test."

"Does it matter how long it takes them? By the end of the day I am in this academy one way or the other," Jen retorted.

"For your sake, I very much hope so. Because if not, I will personally drag you to the shadows," the female duel spirit promised with a growl.

"Suck my non-existent dick," the human girl replied, before returning her attention to her soup. Granted there didn't exist a real sign gesture for the word "dick," so she had to improvise with her thumb and one of her fingers forming a hole and then sticking another finger through it. But judging from Yubel's irritated expression, the message had gone over quite clearly. The demon would have throttled the girl at that very moment if her spirit form allowed it. Sadly at this point in time, Yubel's capabilities were limited, to say the least. So all the duel spirit could do at the moment was huff and turn her attention away from the girl. While turning her head, Yubel noticed that Miss Dorothy was standing behind the food counter. The woman was looking over to Jen with a confused expression. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she had noticed Jen's and Yubel's small interaction. Of course, the only thing the woman really saw was Jen making some wild gestures, while glaring at a random direction. Luckily all Miss Dorothy did was shrug it off and returned to whatever she was doing at this time of the day.

Jen in the meantime was done with eating and took out her new deck. Well, "new" was a relative term in this particular case. As most of the cards she owned didn't even have concept art as of yet, people would believe she'd use counterfeit cards. Not to mention, synchro, XYZ and link monsters have yet to become a thing. As a result, Jen needed to fish out almost ancient cards to build herself a deck that would be accepted. She probably threw in one or two newer cards on accident, but nobody would notice this surely. Still, the deck the mute girl was currently using left much to be desired and once again the girl was exchanging a few cards, hoping to get something that would fully satisfy her. While she was doing this, Dr. Crowler and Chancellor Sheppard arrived on the scene. The head of Obelisk Blue wore his usual scowl, while the head of the academy appeared to be in a good mood. The two men swiftly walked over to Jen, who only noticed them, when they walked around the table. Both Sheppard and Crowler placed themselves in front of her. Jen noted that Crowler was carrying a black deck box in his hand.

"Hello Jen," Sheppard greeted her. The girl waved back with one hand, while with the other she took out her notepad and a roller pen.

"I am happy to tell you that you passed our written exam. Congratulations."

Strangely enough, Jen felt somewhat relieved hearing those words. She mentally guessed that test-anxiety was something that wouldn't change, even if it wasn't a test she took at a real school.

"Now then," Crowler spoke up opening the deck box. He took a set of cards out of it and began shuffling his deck. "Since you passed the written exam, how about we move on to the practical exam? Are you ready?" he asked threateningly.

Jen found herself slightly taken off guard. She didn't imagine they would be holding the practical exam here in this room. But after a moment of composing herself, she put the empty soup bowl away, exchanged one final card in her deck and then gave Crowler an affirmative nod. The two shuffled their decks quickly, before placing them on the table and drew their first five cards.

"Ah yes, Jen?" Sheppard spoke up, causing the girl to look over to the headmaster. "Do you mind if I borrow your notepad and keep track of each of your life points?"

Shrugging, the girl shoved the notepad and the roller pen over to the man in the purple suit, before taking the first glance on her opening hand.

"Don't screw this up," she heard Yubel saying from behind her. The duel spirit had a habit of watching every duel in which Jen was involved. Heck, the demon was ready to go so far as to look into the opponent's hand and tell Jen precisely what she needed to play to win. No doubt she would be doing this today too, in case the duel didn't go in the human girl's favor.

"You start, applicant," Crowler told Jen, to which she drew the sixth card. Frowning at her opening hand, Jen placed a card face down in defense position and followed it up by placing two cards face down in the spell/trap zone. With a gesture of her hand, she told Crowler that it was his turn.

"Very well then. I draw!" the teacher exclaimed and drew a card. He carefully eyed each and every card in his hand, formulating a strategy in his head. ("These test decks are nothing compared to my own. Being forced to play with these cards feels almost like a disgrace. I should inquire Sheppard to raise the standards. Maybe this way we will get fewer slackers into our prestigious academy.")

Out loud Crowler said: "I play Great White (Atk 1600/Def 800 Lv. 4) in arrack mode." The blonde haired man placed a normal water monster on the field. The card pictured a shark with arms. "Next I play the spell card Nobleman of Crossout. This nice little spell card not only destroys your face down monster, but it also removes it from the game," the teacher explained. "And should this monster have a flip effect, the both of us are forced to remove any copy we might have in our decks from the game."

Jen didn't look very impressed with that move. In fact, her hand reached out to one of her face down cards and flipped it over, revealing it to be Magic Jammer. Crowler's smile faded, as he knew what that card did. Namely, it nullified the activation of a spell card, but the user had to throw one card from their hand to the graveyard. And the one the applicant discarded happened to be Yubel.

Crowler frowned at the move, slowly putting his own spell in the grave. "Very well, in that case, I will simply attack your face down monster," he told Jen, looking ever so slightly miffed. A smile appeared on the girl's face, as she revealed her facedown monster, it being Spear Cretin (Atk 500/Def 500 Lv. 2). And as it turned out, it was indeed a flip monster. From memory alone Crowler couldn't recall what the card did, so he asked to read the text himself. And after he learned this card's special ability, a scowl made itself very well apparent on his face.

Since the card had been flipped and destroyed both players were allowed to summon one monster from their graveyard to the field, either in face-up attack or face-down defense position. However, given that Jen was the only one with monsters in her graveyard, the effect only benefitted her. As such, she summoned Yubel (Atk 0/ Def 0 Lv. 10) in attack position to the field.

"I guess luck is part of the game too," he grumbled, while Sheppard laughed.

"Well Crowler, if you hadn't used your spell card, Jen could have simply re-summoned her monster. I guess that was her original strategy," the chancellor laughed in good nature, not helping Crowler's mood.

("I could use my trap card next turn, however for the moment, her Yubel does not pose a threat to me. I think I will save it up for later.")

"I place a card face down and end my turn." Dr. Crowler placed a spell/trap card beneath the Great White and motioned for Jen to go on. The girl herself drew a card and frowned again. With a roll of her eyes, she discarded the card she just drew, which happened to be Yubel - Terror Incarnate (Atk 0/Def 0 Lv. 11). Crowler's mind took a double take when he saw that card.

("There is a second version of that card?! Why am seeing this for the first time?! Argh! This girl never used a duel disk! The only accounts we have of her deck is from camera feeds and eye-witness accounts! But why did she discard it?! Does it have a special ability?")

Crowler found his first question soon to be answered by a monster Jen played. The Tricky (Atk 2000/ Def 1200 Lv. 5) was a monster card that could be special summoned, by discarding one card from the hand. This left Jen with only one card in her hand, but the girl didn't seem to mind. She tapped her own card with her finger and then lightly touched Crowler's monster, her way of indicating she was attacking.

Having caught himself, the doctor placed his monster in the Graveyard, while Sheppard made a note of the change in life points.

Jen: 4000

Crowler: 3600

Since attacking with a monster that had zero attack points was pretty much pointless, Jen went directly over to her end phase, in which she had to sacrifice a monster, or else Yubel would destroy herself. As such, she took The Tricky in her hand and casually placed him on top of her graveyard. With a motion of her hand, she indicated that it was Crowler's turn.

With a deep hum, the teacher drew his next card and looked at his hand. ("Well, I don't know anything about that second Yubel card, but from her facial expression I can tell she didn't want to draw the card. Her current Yubel forces her to sacrifice a monster each turn. And with only one card in her hand, there is a good chance she will lose her ace monster sooner or later. As long as she doesn't have her field spell out in the open, I can simply build up my forces and wait for Yubel to disappear.")

"I play 7 Colored Fish (Atk. 1800/Def 800 Lv. 4) in attack mode," Crowler announced and played the card. It was a normal monster without any abilities. Although despite its name, Jen could only make out six colors on the fish, unless the mouth counted too.

"Since I know your monster has a rather nasty special ability, I will refrain from attacking. It's your move."

It was Jen's turn to draw a card. Once she saw what she pulled, she immediately played it. It was a monster by the name of Sangan (Atk 1000/Def 600 Lv. 3). This one had a special ability. Upon leaving the field, Jen would be allowed to search for a monster with 1500 attack points or less and add it to her hand. And since Yubel's ability immediately forced Sangan off the field, Jen pretty much immediately began to search for the card she wanted, before placing Sangan in the graveyard. Usually, Crowler would scold the girl for the lack of proper procedure, but he wanted to get this duel over with as soon as possible.

Jen showed Crowler the monster she added to her hand. It was called Wall of Illusion (Atk 1000/Def 1850 Lv. 4). The doctor knew that card all too well. Beginners just loved to use this card to screw with their opponents. Each monster attacking the Wall of Illusion would be sent back to the owner's hand. An annoying little card.

After shuffling her deck, Jen finally placed Sangan correctly in her graveyard zone and allowed her opponent to take his turn. Crowler drew a card and looked at it briefly, before deciding to play another card from his hand. "For now I'll simply summon Amphibious Bugroth MK-3 (Atk. 1500/Def 1300 Lv. 4) in attack mode. Once again I won't attack. Your turn."

Jen drew a card and had the same unsatisfactory look on her face she had before. For some reason, she summoned her Wall of Illusions (Atk. 1000/Def. 1850 Lv. 4) in attack mode and placed the card she just drew face down. Her reason, however, became quickly apparent, as she sacrificed her monster in order to keep Yubel in play.

"Don't think you can hide behind your monster forever, applicant. My move." Crowler drew his next card, and a smile appeared on his face. "Very good. I play the-" The good doctor found himself interrupted when the girl in front of him flipped over one of her face down cards. It was a trap by the name of: "Battle Mania?!" Crowler shouted in shock, knowing full well what this card did. The monsters currently on his field were now forced to attack, unless something else prevented them from doing so. A smile appeared on the applicant's face, seeing Crowler's shocked expression. However, to her shock, Crowler suddenly smiled himself.

"Not a bad card. It certainly suits your monster. But I know ways around it. First of all, I play the field spell Umi."

Doctor Crowler placed the field spell card in the top left corner of his field. "This card may weaken my Amphibious Bugroth MK-3 by 200 points. However, in exchange, it is now able to attack you directly. As for my fish, I am going to sacrifice that monster, in order to play Amphibian Beast (Atk. 2400 + 200/Def. 2000 + 200 Lv. 6) in attack mode." The blonde man discarded his Seven Colored Fish to the Graveyard pile and placed the new, stronger monster card where the fish card had been.

"And since my Amphibian Beast wasn't on the field when you activated your trap, it is not affected by it," Crowler explained with a cocky smile, causing Jen to scowl at the man.

"Now then, my machine monster will attack you directly."

Jen: 2700

Crowler: 3600

Jen revealed her face down card, which turned out to be Dig of Destiny. Since she took battle damage, she was now allowed to draw a card. Dr. Crowler didn't appear to be fazed at all by this move.

"And with that, I end my turn."

"What an excellent play Crowler," Shepherd complimented, after noting the change in life points. "Getting around this trap card was no easy feat."

"Thank you, Chancellor. But such is the skill of us teachers here at the academy. Well then, I hope our applicant can adjust accordingly to the new situation."

Jen's scowl deepened as she drew her next card. She only had two in her hand and Yubel on the field, but this was enough for her. She placed the two cards in her hand face down. And since she no longer had a monster on the field, aside from Yubel of course, the very same card had to go to the graveyard. With a wave of her hand, she gestured to Crowler that it was his turn.

"Well that was disappointing," he commented as he drew his next card. Before he could even have a proper look at the card, Jen flipped over one of the two face downs, revealing Call of the Haunted.

"Talk about the luck of the draw," Shepherd commented, as Yubel once again was placed on the field.

"A stalling tactic, nothing more." Crowler waved off. "Without a monster next turn-"

Once again Crowler found himself interrupted by Jen, who revealed her second face-down Mythical Space Typhoon.

"Ah, I see. You want to destroy my field spell, correct?" Crowler was already moving his hand towards his field spell. His assumption was to be proven wrong. With a smirk on her face, Jen first tapped of her spell card and then on her trap card, indicating she wanted to destroy her own trap.

"What?!" Crowler and Shephard exclaimed at the same time, not expecting this move.

"But if you do that, you will destroy your own monster!" Crowler exclaimed. The smirk on Jen's face seemed to widen, as she placed both cards on her graveyard. Yet at the same time, she took one card out of the pile and put it in attack position on the field.

Yubel, Terror Incarnate (Atk. 0/Def. 0 Lv. 11)

"Say what?! Show me that card!" Without even waiting for permission from the girl, Crowler snatched the card and read the card text very carefully. His face turned more and more into one of horror, as he realized that this was a better version of the first Yubel. And if the card text was to be believed, there would be a third version waiting for him, if he destroyed this card.

("This is not good! Even if I activate my trap now, I will have to deal with the third version of that card! I don't want to start to imagine what that monster will be capable of. Okay Crowler, calm down. You haven't lost yet. My monsters may die at the end of her turn, but I can still use one of them. I just have to quickly find a way to destroy both Yubel versions during the same turn. I need to draw the right cards! My luck is, this girl won't be able to hold on to any monsters since her Terror Incarnate destroys all monsters on the field.")

"Fine then!" Crowler composed himself. "My monsters may be doomed next turn, but I can still use this opportunity to attack you directly with my Amphibious Bugroth MK-3 (Atk. 1500 - 200/Def. 1300 - 200 Lv. 4)."

Jen: 1400

Crowler: 3600

"Oh my, this duel is certainly getting interesting!" Shepherd commented with excitement. "But I wonder what your strategy from now on will be Jen. You can't exactly win this game with a monster that has zero attack points."

"Proof this fool wrong already," Jen could hear Yubel's voice coming from the card on the field. "This duel is taking longer than it should be!"

Ignoring the monster's complaining, Jen drew her next card. However, this one proved to be just as useless in this situation as all the other ones. Seeing as there was nothing she could do, Jen ended her turn, meaning Yubel's special ability activated. Having no counter to that, Crowler was forced to place every monster from his side to the graveyard.

"A minor setback," Crowler put up a brave front and drew his next card. ("I will be vulnerable to an attack if I don't play a monster, yet at the same time every monster I play will be destroyed at the end of her turn.")

"Looks like I am forced to pass," Dr. Crowler grumbled.

Jen drew a card and smiled. This was just the card she needed. From her hand, she played a monster known as The Calculator (Atk. ?/Def. 0 Lv. 2).

"Oh no, not that card!"

"Oh, my!" Shephard exclaimed, pleasantly surprised. "The Calculator's strength is determined by the level of each open monster on Jen's field times 300. That means this monster currently has… let's see… one, two, three-"

"That doesn't matter!" Crowler interrupted Shepherd counting the stars on the Yubel card. "I activate Raigeki Break! By discarding one card from my hand, I can destroy one of your cards! So say goodbye to your calculator!"

Jen's smile disappeared, as soon as she saw the card Crowler flipped over. If she could grumble, she certainly would have done so. Unceremoniously she dropped the card onto her graveyard and motioned for Crowler to take over.

"Alright, let's see here!" He drew a card.

("GAH! Where are all the cards I so meticulously put into this deck?! Grr, next time I will use my own deck!")

"I summon Mad Lobster (Atk. 1700 + 200/Def. 1000 + 200 Lv. 3) and end my turn."

Jen drew and looked at her card. Her eyes appeared to be glinting for a split second. Moving her hand she, to the surprise of Shephard and Crowler, moved Yubel, Terror Incarnated to the graveyard and placed Caius the Shadow Monarch (Atk. 2400/Def. 1000 Lv. 6) in her stead.

"Oh no…" Crowler whimpered. He and Shephard could only watch as the girl searched through her deck until she found the card she had been looking for. Due to Yubel's effect, she summoned Yubel the Ultimate Nightmare (Atk. 0/Def. 0 Lv. 12).

"Another card…" the chancellor mumbled. "May I?" he asked, and Jen nodded. Sheppard and Crowler both read the entire card text. When they were done, Crowler's face was as white as his own bedsheets. It was clear that Jen had won.

To keep up with formality, Caius' own special ability activated and a card needed to be taken out of the game. Jen simply tapped on Umi, indicating this was her target for her monster's special ability. And now came the end. Jen attacked Mad Lobster with Yubel the Ultimate Nightmare. Due to all of her special skills, Jen received no damage, Crowler lost 1500 life points, the attack strength of his monster and Mad Lobster was destroyed.

Jen: 1400

Crowler: 2100

And with nothing to defend himself, Doctor Crowler could only watch as Jen pointed with her index finger first at Caius the Shadow Monarch and then at Crowler. He had lost.

Jen: 1400

Crowler: 0

Winner: Jen.

Crowler slumped back into his chair, after his defeat. ("Stupid deck! This would never have happened if I could have used my own deck! Bah, who cares! I shouldn't be so angry about this. At the very least she isn't like those Sliver Slackers!")

Sheppard clapped his hands. "Congratulations Jen. Allow me to welcome you to Duel Academy personally." The man stretched out his hands, and Jen shook it, nodding at the man.

"Well, you faired better than I expected," Dr. Crowler spoke like he really didn't care about his loss. "I guess dueling our students has taught you a thing or two. Let's see if you can keep it up." With that being said, the blonde man gathered all of the academy cards and made his way out of the room. Chancellor Sheppard watched after the man until he left the cafeteria.

"Don't worry too much about Crowler. He may be strict, but he is a good teacher. I'm looking forward to seeing as to how you will develop as a duelist."

Jen nodded her thanks.

"With that being said, tonight will be the last time you sleep at the Slifer Red Dorm. Since you're now officially part of the academy, you will be living in our female Obelisk Blue Dorm. We'll provide you with the school uniform in the coming days and everything else you might need for your studies. But for now, why don't you tell Miss Dorothy the good news? I'm sure she will prepare something special for you on this occasion. Now, if you would excuse me, I'm afraid paperwork is calling me once again. Have a good day."

Having said his piece, Chancellor Sheppard got off his chair and left the cafeteria. Now all alone, Jen finally decided to put her cards away. While she was busy, the spirit of Yubel appeared right next to her.

"You call this dueling?" the spirit asked, to which Jen rolled her eyes.

"Bad hand. It happens," she signed the spirit, before returning her attention to the task at hand.

"Tch!" the spirit scoffed, crossing her arms. "You're lucky I'm in such a good mood. In just a few weeks, I am finally going to be able to see Jaden again." Yubel had a dreamy expression on her face. It disappeared rather quickly and once again the demon glared at the human, who owned her card. "You better improve your game in the future! You should have won this duel on your second turn."

Jen flipped the duel spirit off.


End file.
